Recovery

Idaho is one of five states that saw housing prices climb by more than 12 percent from the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.

In Idaho, home prices are up 15.1 percent over the first quarter of last year. But as the State Economic Monitor from the Tax Policy Institute points out, Idaho is among states that saw the sharpest decline in home prices during the recession.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release personal income data for 2012. In anticipation of that release, StateImpact Idaho pulled together personal income data going back to 1990 and compared it with the U.S. average. The data show a widening gap between Idaho and the country as a whole.

New numbers out Monday show Idaho's rural areas experienced the post-recession years very differently from the state's cities. While places like Boise and Pocatello were on the mend, economic output in rural communities in Idaho declined.

Boise home values have improved by nearly five percent from their post-recession low. That’s enough of an increase that a recent Brookings Institution report ranks the city first for its house price recovery. StateImpactreported that finding early this week.

There’s something unusual happening in Boise. While national figures show that the housing recovery is slow, at best, Boise is one of a few U.S. cities that have seen a fast run-up in demand, and prices. Continue reading...

Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March dropped below 8 percent to 7.9 percent. The Idaho Department of Labor reports that’s the first time the state’s jobless rate has dipped below 8 percent in more than two years. Still, almost 62,000 Idahoans are out of work.